After years of abuse to my body I have decided that things have got to change and it is going to start with my own 40 day challenge as it’s time to get healthy!

It’s strategic that this all begins today, it was going to be on Friday 13th, but as I’m quite superstitious it’s best to avoid that day to start something so important. At 38 years old I have got to turn things around and make drastic changes.

Since the start of 2017, and it’s time to get healthy has already started! I have already made a few changes which includes cutting out alcohol, coffee and takeaways – that said I have had one Japanese takeaway but no more!

When it comes to losing right correctly there is no quick fix! When you are big, which unfortunately I am, the first change has to be to eat correctly and then to exercise.

I know that ‘fad’ diets don’t work in the long term but I do feel they can give you a physiological boost, or at least they do for me, so I am starting my new healthy lifestyle with the 3-day heart foundation diet!

Whilst you might be shouting “NO” at your screens, but 13 years ago in 2004 when I was 25 and again overweight, it was how I started dieting and it worked – this was when I was probably the healthiest I have ever been since turning 18! I’m finally facing the truth and it’s time to get healthy.

What went wrong?

From 2002 until 2005 I worked in Italy as an English language teacher, which was fantastic, and by the start of 2004 I realised that I was overweight and it had been getting worse for a few years.

Every so often I tried some new diet, these have included the very rotten cabbage soup diet, Aitkin, the pain of replacing food with disgusting tasting shakes and good old Weightwatchers, but none of them worked for me.

I feel that you have to find the right thing for you – for example my sister loves ‘Slimming World’, she thinks it’s incredible and it works for her.

In 2004, I started off with a three-day diet with lots of walking and then tried to eat a balanced diet and most importantly I cut alcohol out of my life and it worked!

It‘s strange looking back now, that I was in the country with the world’s best wine and I didn’t drink but at the time it was no problem. I would still go to bars but I drank sparkling water – it also helped with my finances as it used to cost me a euro for a drink rather than five for a pint! I managed to get myself into decent shape – there was still work to be done but I was happy!

Sadly my downfall started towards the end of 2005 about three months after moving to Ireland – I had stopped teaching and moved into recruitment. The high pressured sales environment was one that I enjoyed at times but found myself wanting to join my colleagues for a pint on a Friday night. It was also really frustrating that a bottle of water in Dublin cost between €2 .40-€2.70 in a pub compared to €1 in Italy!

I tried to continue my healthy Mediterranean diet after moving but I found myself eating more and more takeaways and doing much less walking and the kilos piled on!

Initially it was quite slow and I hadn’t noticed it but in 2006, it got a lot worse, I fell in love with Guinness – a drink that you should really limit or make sure you spend a lot of time in the gym to counter balance the whopping 210 calories in each pint!

Since then there were a few different diets that had worked for short periods but nothing that lasted!

What’s next?

It’s the time to get healthy and I have a plan – as I mentioned earlier I am going to start off with the ‘three-day’ diet and then go to a healthy and balanced diet where I want to keep my carbs to a minimum!

Exercise will be important for me to reach my goals – I aim to walk my dogs twice-a-day, go swimming four times-a-week and I am going back to play table tennis, after a six year break, twice-a-week.

In 2017, I have an important wedding to go and I want to be able to fit into my lovely Ted Baker suit that I have only ever worn once!

I am setting myself different targets; the first is to lose 10kg! Generally the first ten should be okay but then it’s key to keep them off!

After that it’s 12kg then 15kg and 20kg and hopefully building up to lose my overall goal of a whopping 52kg!

So with two months before I turn 39 I want to make the right changes and I am determined to do it!

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